Attorneys General Curb
Claims for "Tahitian Noni"

On August 26, 1998, the Attorneys General of Arizona, California,
New Jersey, and Texas announced a multi-state settlement with
Morinda, Inc., a multilevel
company headquartered in Linden, Utah. The states had charged
that Morinda had made unsubstantiated claims in consumer testimonials
and other promotional material that its "Tahitian Noni"
juice could treat, cure or prevent numerous diseases, including
diabetes, depression, hemorrhoids and arthritis. Such claims rendered
the beverage an unapproved new drug under state and federal food
and drug laws and should not have been sold until it received
approval. Under the terms of the agreement, Morinda must:

No longer make drug claims, or claims that the product can
cure, treat, or prevent any disease until "Tahitian Noni"
is approved and cleared for those uses by the U.S. Food and Drug
Adminstration.

Not make any other claims, whether health claims or others,
regarding the benefits of "Tahitian Noni" unless such
claims are true and the company can substantiate the claim by
reliable scientific evidence.

Not use testimonials which imply that the advertised claimed
results are the typical or ordinary experience of consumers in
actual conditions of use, unless Morinda possesses and relies
upon adequate substantiation that the results are typical or
ordinary.

In addition, Morinda must refund to any consumer who requests
a refund in writing, the full purchase price paid for the product.
The agreement also calls for Morinda to pay $100,000 for investigative
costs.

Regulatory Action
in Finland

In its decision (E 27/216/98) of November 26, 1998, the National
Food Administration has banned the importation, exportation,
trade stocking, offering and all other supplying, of the fruit
juice marketed under the name of NONI until such time as the
brochure which must be supplied in conjunction with sales, and
other information, has been corrected in accordance with the
Food Act and the regulations legislated on the basis of this
Act.

NONI fruit juice is sold throughout Finland by means of network
marketing, and in conjunction with sales of the product claims
associated with health, and pharmaceutical information on the
foodstuff, are systematically presented which are prohibited
under section 6 of the Food Act. In the material in the brochure
connected with sales, reference is made to the effects of the
product in regard to the prevention of illnesses, their treatment
and cure by, among things, listing the complaints that NONI has
been shown to relieve. Among the complaints listed are HIV, cancer,
diabetes, rheumatism, blood pressure, cholesterol, psoriasis,
allergies, heart rhythm abnormality, chronic inflammation, and
aching joints. To prevent any possible side-effects of NONI fruit
juice, the brochure even urges people to reduce the dosage of
prescription medicines. The information given in the brochure
in conjunction with marketing, and other information, is also
to be considered misleading to the consumer, since an impression
is given of the nature of the product and its properties leading
one to believe that the product is a medicine, not a food.

In addition to the brochure material contravening the Food
Act regulations, the product contains a food ingredient from
a plant (Morinda citrifolia) the utilization of which in the
EU has thus far been extremely slight. Thus, it is possible that
the ingredient is a novel food complying with the Novel Food
Regulation (258/1997) which should have been brought on to the
markets in a way compliant with stipulated procedures.

After careful deliberation, the National Food Administration
has decided that protecting the consumers' health and economy
from misleading marketing calls for immediate steps to be taken
in regard to banning the sale, marketing and importation of this
product.

For the lifting of the temporary ban the National Food Administration
orders the importers, vendors and marketers responsible for the
product to rectify the brochures and other information used for
marketing and selling so that these no longer portray health
effects contrary to the Food Act regulations according to which
the product would have effects preventing, treating or curing
illnesses. For supervising adherence to the regulations, information
is required to be supplied to the National Food Administration
on entrepreneurs and persons acting as network vendors, marketers
and importers for the product. The National Food Administration
also directs the parties responsible to determine whether the
product is a novel foodstuff compliant with the Novel Foodstuff
Regulation.